Game



' Jan. 7, 1941. R. A. HADFIELD 7 ,2 ,9

GAME

Filed April 29, Q 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 BYh' E ATTORNEY.

. Jan. 7, 1.941. R A HADFIELD 2,227,932

GAME I Filed April 29, 19:59 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 an fl W2.

Patented Jan. 7, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to games.

Objects of this invention are to provide a game which requires keennessof judgment, ability to estimate clearances and distance, and to planfor future moves, both of the player himself and of his opponent oropponents.

Further objects are to provide a game which requires a player to makehis player men progress across a board somewhat in the manner of chessor checkers, but which also provides for the mechanical moving ofpaddles or similar manipulating members which in turn cause the playermen to move.

Further objects are to provide a game in which means are provided toproduce a chance of blockingeither the blocking of the paddlesthemselves or the blocking of a player man against a paddleto thusprevent continued play for that particular move and therefore provide anelement of chance or else termination of a players particular move dueto an error of judgment on his part.

Further objects are to provide a game which is of simple construction,which occupies a very small space, which is substantially flat, andwhich may be cheaply manufactured.

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a plan View of one form of the game.

Figure 2 is a sectional View on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective detailoi one of the paddles or manipulatingmembers.

Figure 4 is a View of one of the player men.

Figure 5 is a plan view showing the manner in which a plurality ofpaddles may be cut from a single board.

Figure 6 is an edge view of the construction shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a detail view corresponding to Figure 2 showing a modifiedform of construction.

Figure 8 is a View corresponding to Figure 1 showing a modified form ofgame.

Figures 9, 10 and 11 are small views indicating the various shapes thatthe game board may take.

Referring to the drawings, particularly Figure 1, it will be seen thatthe game provides a playing board I which may have marginal flanges 2 onopposite sides thereof and which has two starting stations 3 and 4 forthe respective players. A plurality of paddles 5 are provided and arearranged in successive rows from one starting station to the otherstarting station. These paddles are pivotally secured to the board andare free to rotate completely around their pivot points.

It is preferable to make these paddles 5 or mathe board. It is providedwith an aperture 6 for 5 the reception of the pivot pin I, see Figure 2,and is provide with an aperture 8 for the reception of the playersfinger. Preferably the aperture 8 is provided with a bevelled portion 9as indicated.

Obviously in place of the hole in a paddle for receiving a finger of theplayer, other manipulating portions or means may be provided on thepaddle so that the paddles may be successively freely rotated by aplayer.

These paddles are preferably of the triangular shape hereinbeforedescribed so that a number of paddles may be cut from a single stackedset of plates Ill, see Figures 5 and 6. Prior to the cutting of thesepaddles the holes 6 and 8 are bored completely through the stack. Theholes 8 may subsequently be bevelled, as described hereinabove. In thisway it is possible to cut a great number of paddles at one time andmaterially reduce the cost of production.

A plurality of player men I I and I2 are provided which are identicalexcept that they are of different colors. One of the player men is shownin detail in Figure 4.

The pivot pin may take other forms. For instance, rivets I3 may be usedas shown in Figure 7, such rivets passing through the paddles I4 andthrough the board I5, the board being provided with side flanges l5 ashereinbefore described.

This last described construction is particularly useful where the boardis made of a relatively thin sheet, for instance pasteboard,composition, or other material. At all events, the paddles are in eachinstance loosely pivoted to the board and may be freely rotated abouttheir pivot pins.

The board, paddles, and player men may be made of any suitable material,such as wood, composition, pasteboard, or of any material of thisgeneral order.

It is preferable to provide lines I1 and I8, see Figure 1, to separatethe starting stations 3 and 4 from the main body of the board I.

The game may be played by any number of players. If, for example, it isplayed by two players, they are opponents and start at the respectivestarting stations 3 and 4.

If there are three players, each starts from the same starting station.If there are four or six players, however, half of the players startfrom one starting station and the other half from the opposite startingstation. Those starting at the same end may play as partners if desired.If there are five players, three may start from one end of the board andthe remaining two from the other end.

Before starting the play, the board is first shaken from side to side toallow the paddles to assume difi'erent positions on the board. Eachplayer uses from one to four player men of the same color. For example,the player starting from the starting station 3 may have his player manI I of one color and the player starting from the starting station 4 mayhave his player man l2 of a different color.

The starting player places his first player man anywhere along thedivision line of his starting station. For instance, if the playerstarts from station 3, he places his player man ll adjacent the startingline I! and dialsslowly -forone complete turn, thus pushing his playerman towards the opposite end of the board. The paddles are to be turnedslowly without force and should be free to revolve in the directionselected without being stopped by the adjacent paddles or a combinationof his player man and paddles in such positions as to cause blocking ofthe player man then being moved. In like manner each of the succedingplayers takes his turn, dialing a paddle until all of the player men arebeyond the starting line.

As soon as a players last player man is in play, he may continue to dialany paddle as long as he moves one of his player men by the paddle inwhich his finger is placed andas long as the paddle is free to revolveafter he succeeds in completing the revolution without being blocked.However, if an opponents player man is moved first or if the player inattempting to turn a paddle in one direction finds he cannot make a fullturn, he must leave the paddle where it is stopped and his turn issacrificed to the next player.

The paddles may be dialed in either direction as most advantageous tothe player, but when a direction has once been attempted, it is finaland cannot be altered, nor can a paddle once started be abandoned infavor of another.

Obviously a player can leave. his paddle in any positionhe desires,provided he can make a complete turn of the paddle during the moving ofhis player man. He may leave the paddle in such a position as to aid himin his future progress or in a position which might block an opponent,but he may not reset the paddle after removing his finger from it.

Obviously various other rules may be made in which, for instance, if allof the player men of one player are blocked so that he cannot move them,he may move any paddle as far around as it will go to make the way clearfor his next move when his turn comes.

The game is won by the player who first succeeds in getting all of hisplayer men beyond the line at the other end of the board from which hestarts. On the other hand, if teams are in competition, the game is wonwhen all of the player men of one team are beyond the line at theopposite end of the board from which they start, that is to say, whenall of the player men are in the opponents starting station.

The rules may also be modified to require the restarting of an opponentin the event his player man is moved back across his starting line. Hemay then, for instance, place it wherever he desires in his startingstation adjacent his starting line and then start anew when his turncomes. He cannot continue dialing until all of his player men whichmight become so displaced across his starting line have again beenreturned to p ay.

It is to be noted that the game is so constructed that blocking mayfrequently occur. For example, the inner player man II is blockedagainst the forward paddle adjacent the pivot point of such paddle andcannot be moved by rotation of the rear paddle. Such player man wouldhave to be moved sidewise by the adjacent forward paddle instead ofbeing advanced.

Also the inner player man I2 is blocked against the end of the forwardpaddle and cannot be -moved by the immediately adjacent rear paddle--but would have to be moved sidewise by a laterally positioned paddle.

The game, therefore, provides for accidentally blocking a players ownplayer man or for intentionally blocking an opponents player man byleaving a paddle in an unfavorable position for a successive turn of theopponent.

The rules of the game maybe varied considerably. For example, it may beplayed by eliminating the opponents player men by touching one of theopponents player men with one of the players own player men upon dialingthe appropriate paddle. Under these conditions, the rules may requirethe opponents player man to be removed from the board. No attempt ismade in this manner of playing the game to-dial any player man acrossthe terminal lines I! and I8.

The game may be played by a single player if so desired, and he maycount the number of times he has to dial to carry his player man acrossthe board, for instance, or to carry it up and down between successiverows.

If desired the game may be made as shown in Figure 8, which has the samegeneral idea as that shown in Figure 1 but which is a four-sided gameboard without side flanges. The starting stations are indicated by thereference characters I9, 20, 2| and 22 and the respective player men bythe reference characters 23, 24, 25 and 26. Preferably these player menare of different colors and the game is played in exactly the samemanner as that described in connection with the form shown in Figure 1,except that when four players are playing, the player men of one set mayprogress completely across the board and the player men of the other setmay progress directly across the board at right angles to the progressof the other player men.

Other rules may be employed for ontrolling the direction of play if sodesired without departing from the spirit of this invention. However,the idea of providing the player men and the rotating paddles isfollowed, irrespective of the particular shape of the board and theconditions for unex pected blocking of a players own player men orintentional blocking of an opponents player man are provided in allforms of the invention.

The game board obviously may take many other shapes, for example thehexagon as shown in Figure 9 and indicated by the reference character21, the octagon as shown in Figure 10 and indicated by the referencecharacter 28, or the circle as shown in Figure 11 and indicated by thereference character 29.

It will be seen that a novel form of game has been provided in which agame board is equipped with revolubly mounted paddles which are rotatedabout their pivots to move the players player men progressively acrossthe board and to interfere with the progress of the opponents playermen.

It is also to be seen that a great deal of skill and judgment and theability to estimate clearances and distance is required to successfullyplay the game, and therefore it has the additional advantage, differingfrom checkers or chess or similar games, in that not only are the playermen moved progressively across the board, but also in that it providesfor themechanical operation of dialing the correct paddle withoutcausing inadvertent blocking of the player's player man and theselection of the particular position in which the paddle may be left tohamper the opponent.

It will be seen that the game is such as to maintain the interest of a.player and to require considerable judgment on his part in estimatingdistances and clearances and so forth, and in planning for future moves.

It is to be noted particularly that the game may be very cheaplymanufactured and that it requires a relatively small space so that thecompletely packed or wrapped games may be easily stacked withoutrequiring a large amount of space in a store, for instance, prior totheir sale.

The expressions paddle or paddles are not to be interpreted in alimiting sense unless specifically defined. The particular form ofpaddle indicated may be employed or other shapes may be used. The formshown has, however, been found to be eminently satisfactory.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, it isto be understood that such description is intended as illustrativerather than limiting, as the invention may be variously embodied and isto be interpreted as claimed.

I claim:

1. A game device comprising a game board, a plurality of paddlespivotally mounted on said board and freely revoluble about the pivots,and player men adapted to be progressively moved across the board by therotation of the paddles, said player men and paddles all lying in thesame plane, said paddles having holes for the reception of a finger of aplayer for rotating the selected paddle.

2. A game device comprising a game board, a plurality of paddlespivotally mounted on said board, and freely revoluble about the pivots,and. player men adapted to be engaged by the paddles and progressivelymoved across the board by the rotation of the paddles by pushing aplayer man by a selected paddle, said player men and said paddles alllying in the same plane, said paddles having manipulating means formeddirectly on the paddles and accessible from the upper sides of thepaddles and adapted to be engaged by the finger of a player for rotatingthe selected paddle, said manipulating means being spaced from theportion of the paddles which are adapted to engage the player men.

- ROBERT A. HADFIELD.

